Barry – key man in Man. City’s midfield

Gareth Barry was the first to congratulate Manchester City’s latest recruit and fellow mifielder Samir Nasri when the latter left Arsenal to sign a more lucrative contract at Eastlands in summer.

Barry describes the fight for a place in the Citizens midfield as a tough prospect, comparing it with his constant struggle to become a regular for England.

Many reckon that David Silva, Yaya Toure and Nigel de Jong are favourites to finish at the top of the appearances’ list for midfielders come May but critics have also described Barry as a key man.

He was born in Hastings, East Sussex, on February 23, 1981.

After a short spell at Brighton, he joined Aston Villa in 1997 for a fee of £2.4m. His baptism at Villa Park came on May 2, 1998 against Sheffield Wednesday.

Barry was later named captain and moved into the centre of midfield under the management of Graham Taylor.

Barry was a fixture in the side and became the youngest player to appear in 300 Premier League games − still not 27 (vs Bolton on Oct. 28, 2007) breaking the record that belonged to Frank Lampard.

Martin O’Neill took over at Villa and Barry became the longest-serving player in the team.

In 2008, after Villa had rejected three bids from Liverpool, Barry publicly criticised O’Neill and was subsequently disciplined.

The midfielder was stripped of the armband and fined but in January 2009, he was restored to his role of captain after injury to Martin Laursen. His time at Villa Park was over when Barry chalked up 441 appearances and scored 52 goals.

Barry joined Man. City on June 2, 2009, for £12m.

His debut for City came against Blackburn at Ewood Park, playing the whole match in a 2-0 win.

Barry scored his first Premier League goal for City against Manchester United at Old Trafford on September 20, 2009. City lost 3-4.

Barry made his England debut on May 31, 2000 under Kevin Keegan.

On that occasion, England beat Ukraine 2-0 at Wembley in a friendly.

Barry came on as a substitute for Phil Neville.

His first goal came on June 6, 2009, under Fabio Capello, in the World Cup qualifying 4-0 win against Kazakhstan in Almaty.

Barry has played 48 times for England, including 27 friendlies.

His last appearance in an England shirt was in the Euro 2012 qualifying 1-0 win against Wales at Wembley.